How California’s local elections could expand cannabis business opportunities

The biggest bottleneck to the development and expansion of the legal cannabis industry across California has been local governments banning commercial marijuana companies.

That roadblock could morph into more of a speed bump after the November election, when at least 82 cannabis-related ballot measures are slated to go before voters in cities and counties around the state, according to information NORML shared with Marijuana Business Daily.

Marijuana businesses throughout California are keeping particularly careful watch on the following types of initiatives:

Those aiming to establish local cannabis taxes, typically on gross receipts and per square foot of cultivation. Such taxes would set the stage for municipalities to begin approving regulations for cannabis entrepreneurs to operate within their borders.

Measures that could create more licensing opportunities.

Those intended to discourage cannabis companies from entering particular jurisdictions because the tax rates are so high – say, 25% of gross receipts and $30 per square foot of canopy for growers.

“For the most part, once a local tax is in place, entrepreneurs rush in to make proposals, demonstrate to the city they can be responsible business owners and … things do move forward.”The majority of the state’s MJ-related initiatives are asking voters to approve marijuana business taxes, and that’s “often the first step to opening businesses up,” said Ellen Komp, deputy director of California NORML.

Historic election?

Dustin Moore, a principal at Main Street Strategies who also worked on the Proposition 64 campaign in 2016 – which legalized recreational cannabis in California, said the coming election is nearly as important as Prop 64. That’s because so many local jurisdictions in the state have maintained MJ business bans.

November’s more than 80 local initiatives will help chip away at that resistance to the industry, he said.

“This election will be another watershed moment,” Moore predicted. “This sets the stage for a local government push to really start opening up licensing.”

Only 180 of California’s 540 municipalities and counties have passed laws to allow MJ business licensing of some kind, according to CannaRegs, which tracks local MJ regulations around the state. The rest – a whopping 67% of California’s local governments – have banned commercial cannabis.

“I think we’re going to see that, on election night, the majority of the voters who supported Prop 64 are going to overwhelmingly support these tax measures,” Moore said.

Komp agreed, adding that additional business taxes on the California ballot historically tend to pass.

Not just that, but most of the local campaigns are low-profile in fairly small jurisdictions, meaning they’ve drawn little to no fanfare or controversy and will likely appear to most voters as ballot questions that ask if they support legal cannabis or not.

“A tax on the ballot is almost a sure thing. There have been very few exceptions,” Komp said of the likelihood a tax measure will pass.

Still, Moore stressed, “there will not be a windfall of new jurisdictions opening,” because most of the state’s localities still won’t be issuing MJ company licenses, even if all the local ballot measures were to pass this year.

To Read The Rest Of This Article By John Shroyer on Marijuana Business Daily